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  • Noah Joslin of the Middlebury All-Stars follows through with a swing during Middlebury’s 13-2 loss to Osolo in a Little League District 14 9-10 Baseball tournament contest Saturday morning at Baugo. GREG KEIM

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  • Middlebury's Aden Berger prepares to fire a pitch to the plate on Saturday. GREG KEIM

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July 15, 2012

LITTLE LEAGUE:Osolo too strong

Middlebury All-Stars fall in semifinals on Saturday

By GREG KEIM THE GOSHEN NEWS

BAUGO — Osolo scored a total of nine runs in the second and third innings in a 13-2 win over Middlebury in a District 14 Little League All-Star age 10-11 baseball tournament semifinal Saturday morning at Baugo.

Osolo managed just four base hits in the contest, but took advantage of 13 walks by Middlebury pitchers.

“We just lost to the team that is probably going to win the championship,” Middlebury manager Tony Bontrager said. “Our kids battled today like they have the entire tourney. We fought hard. It’s a good group of kids.

“The Osolo program is a class act. They have good players and good coaches.”

Osolo was able to take advantage of the free passes with some nifty base running.

“We teach the kids to be aggressive on the bases,” Osolo manager Rick Cassella said. “We want them rounding the bag until they see the other team has control of the ball. When you round the base you are in position to advance if something happens. It’s harder to do that if you are heading back to the bag.”

Osolo moves on to the championship game Monday at 6 p.m. in Edwardsburg, Michigan.

The Osolo team may have had something to prove on Saturday.

“A year ago, we lost to Edwardsburg. We had been ahead, but lost on two crucial errors,” Cassella said. “It has been a struggle this season. We lost four of our top five hitters from last year’s team to travel ball clubs.”

One of the keys to the Osolo according to Cassella has been the addition of Surf Sadowey behind the plate.

“He is a heady player,” the manager said. “The other night in our game he called an infield fly before the umpires did. Our infield knew how to handle the play because he called it out.”

Brooks Barnhizer and Braxton Barnhizer didn’t hit the ball Saturday the way they have been in the tourney, but were still key contributors. Between the two of them they reached base six of the eight times they were up. Brooks reached on a single, a hit by pitch and two walks while Braxton walked twice. Braxton pitched the first four innings to get the win. He struck out eight and walked one.

“Both of them are good athletes,” Cassella said. “They are very good basketball players.”

Middlebury scored two runs in the third inning. Tyler Evers started things with a walk and Nick Knepper followed with a single. Nick Ganzack drove them in with a double to right center.

“Offense has not been our problem,” Bontrager said. “We came into this game averaging 13 runs per game. Defense has been a struggle. Because we were giving up an average of 15 runs per game we had to score a lot of runs. Today we walked more batters than we had been and Osolo took advantage of that.”

Bontrager was proud of the way the team performed in the tournament.

“We knew coming in we had a good club, but then we lost a couple of kids to vacations,” he said.

“So we had to go out and hand pick some players to fill in. The kids did a great job and they played together as a team. They got along just great. The other day when it was 100 degrees I cancelled practice and we had a pool party instead. Everyone had a great time.”



Osolo 13, Middlebury 2

Middlebury    002 01 — 3-6-2

Osolo    045 22 — 13-4-0

Pitching: (Osolo) Braxton Barnhizer, Tyler Plante and Brooks Barnhizer combined for 10 strikeouts and five walks. (Middlebury) Aden Berger, Matt Parsons and Cole Berger combined for four strikeouts and 13 walks.

Hitting: (Osolo) Drew Stimac triple, single, three RBI; Anthony Reyes double, RBI; Brooks Barnhizer single, RBI; Braxton Barnhizer RBI. (Middlebury) Nick Ganzack double, two RBI; Aden Berger single, Tyler Evers single, Noah Joslin single, Nick Knepper single, Collin Williams.

 

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